© Capital Community College In your notebook, takes notes on these concepts: Title: Notes on Clauses Clause: Subject: Verb: Independent Clause: Dependent/Subordinate Clause:

© Capital Community College Clauses: Building Blocks for Sentences A clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a verb. It is different from a phrase in that a phrase does not include a subject and a verb relationship.phrase There are many different kinds of clauses. It would be helpful to review some of the grammar vocabulary we use to talk about clauses.

© Capital Community College What is a subject? Verb: is the action of the sentence. Subject: performs the action of the verb and answers the question "Who?" or "What?" in front of the verb

© Capital Community College What is a subject? ExampleQuestion for the subjectAnswer The theory stated by the German astronauts amazed the government. What amazed the government? the theory stated by the German astronauts The acid spilled in the laboratory caused a delay in the investigation. What caused a delay in the investigation? the acid spilled in the laboratory The assistant manager at the store filed a lawsuit against the company for age discrimination. Who filed a lawsuit against the company for age discrimination? the assistant manager

© Capital Community College Clauses: Building Blocks for Sentences Clauses go by many names. Here are some definitions: 1. Independent: A clause that can stand by itself and still make sense. An independent clause could be its own sentence, but is often part of a larger structure, combined with other independent clauses and with dependent clauses. 2. Dependent/Subordinate: A clause that cannot stand by itself. It depends on something else, an independent clause, for its meaning. A dependent clause trying to stand by itself would be a sentence fragment. sentence fragment

© Capital Community College Clauses: Building Blocks for Sentences And here are some examples of independent clauses Independent clauses: Glaciers often leave behind holes in the ground. These holes are called kettles, and they look just like scooped-out pots. Glaciers also leave behind enormous deposits of glacial “garbage”; these deposits are called morains.

© Capital Community College Clauses: Building Blocks for Sentences Notice that this sentence consists of a very brief independent clause followed by a long and complex dependent clause. Kettle holes result when a large block of ice is left behind the glacier and then melts away, leaving a large depression. The dependent clause begins with what is called a subordinating conjunction. This causes the clause to be dependent upon the rest of the sentence for its meaning; it cannot stand by itself.

© Capital Community College Clauses: Building Blocks for Sentences Independent clauses can be connected in a variety of ways: 1. By a comma and little conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and sometimes so). 2. By a semicolonsemicolon, by itself. 3. By a semicolon accompanied by a conjunctive adverb (such as however, moreover, nevertheless, as a result, consequently, etc.). 4. And, of course, independent clauses are often not connected by punctuation at all but are separated by a period.

© Capital Community College Clauses: Building Blocks for Sentences Understanding CLAUSES and how they are connected within the larger structure of your sentence will help you avoid Sentence FragmentsRun-on Sentences and make it possible for you to punctuate your sentences properly and write confidently with a variety of sentence structures.variety of sentence structures